The sale of Adidas to investors around Robert Louis-Dreyfus in 1993 is one of the cases still to be resolved amid the investigations into the dealings of the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. He was held by police for questioning earlier this month in an unrelated investigation into allegations of influence peddling. This probe itself arose out of another investigation into campaign funding, which led to the tapping of Sarkozy's phone. The case involving Adidas focuses on allegations that Sarkozy's aides helped to secure arbitration for Bernard Tapie, the former majority shareholder of Adidas, in his long-running legal battle around the sale of the company. In 2008 Tapie obtained compensation of €403 million in the case against the remnants of the former Crédit Lyonnais, the then state-owned bank that helped to organize the sale. Tapie obtained the asking price for Adidas but the bank made a neat profit on the transaction and Tapie alleged it had sold Adidas to itself through offshore holdings. The compensation was paid by taxpayers, although Tapie did not receive all of it. The investigation is studying allegations that the arbitration process was rigged by presidential aides in favor of Tapie, after his support of Sarkozy's election campaign. Five people, who all deny wrongdoing, were placed under formal investigation for alleged conspiracy to defraud earlier this year, including Tapie and one of his lawyers.

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